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E70: What You Absolutely Must Know About Big Pharma
Are you waiting for that magic pill to make you feel better? Do you often go to your doctor expecting him or her to prescribe safe drugs designed to help you?
What if I told you that the main goal of the pharmaceutical industry is profit, and in most cases, they could care less about your health or curing diseases. I’ll go one step further, most of these companies operate under the protection of our government agencies, while acting as criminal enterprises, and the American public is their victim.
As some of you know, I used to be a Special Agent for the FDA, so I have seen the belly of the pharmaceutical industry from the inside, and it isn’t pretty. With that said, I have to be careful with what I say, so today, I’m thrilled to bring on Gerald Posner, the author of the best-selling book “Pharma”. Gerald has put together one of the most comprehensive books exposing just how dirty the pharmaceutical industry truly is.
The author of thirteen acclaimed books, including the New York Times nonfiction bestsellers Case Closed, Why America Slept, and God’s Bankers. Posner was a finalist for the Pulitzer in History. "A merciless pit bull of an investigator,” concluded the Chicago Tribune. The New York Times said his latest book (2020), PHARMA, was “a withering and encyclopedic indictment of a drug industry that often seems to prioritize profits over patients…[it] reads like a pharmaceutical version of cops and robbers."
Posner was one of the youngest attorneys (23) ever hired by Cravath, Swaine & Moore. A Political Science major, he was a Phi Beta Kappa and Summa Cum Laude graduate of the University of California at Berkeley, where he was also a national debating champion. At Hastings Law School, he was an Honors Graduate and was the Law Review’s Associate Executive Editor. He was a litigation associate at the Wall Street law firm of Cravath, Swaine & Moore before leaving in 1981 to co-found Posner & Ferrara, a New York public interest law firm. Several years of a pro bono legal representation on behalf of surviving twins of Nazi experiments at the Auschwitz death camp led him to coauthor his first book in 1986, MENGELE: The Complete Story, bestselling and critically acclaimed biography of the infamous Nazi “Angel of Death,” Dr. Josef Mengele. Read a profile on Gerald on how the Mengele book led to him to leave the law. Publishers Weekly explains how he changed from being a Wall Street lawyer to a bestselling nonfiction author. In the past, he was a regular panelist on HistoryCENTER, the History Channel’s Sunday current events program. He has been a freelance writer for many news magazines, and a regular contributor to NBC, the History Channel, CNN, FOX News, CBS, and MSNBC. He is represented by BrightSight Group for lectures about investigative journalism and his books. His wife, the author Trisha Posner, works with him on all projects.
Big Pharma Topics Discussed:
* Why is the Investigative Reporter dying as a career today* What was it that got Gerald interested in investigating the pharmaceutical industry* What does the term “off labeling” mean* How do “kickbacks” work in the pharmaceutical industry* How did the ...
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By Gary Collins - The Simple LifeAre you waiting for that magic pill to make you feel better? Do you often go to your doctor expecting him or her to prescribe safe drugs designed to help you?
What if I told you that the main goal of the pharmaceutical industry is profit, and in most cases, they could care less about your health or curing diseases. I’ll go one step further, most of these companies operate under the protection of our government agencies, while acting as criminal enterprises, and the American public is their victim.
As some of you know, I used to be a Special Agent for the FDA, so I have seen the belly of the pharmaceutical industry from the inside, and it isn’t pretty. With that said, I have to be careful with what I say, so today, I’m thrilled to bring on Gerald Posner, the author of the best-selling book “Pharma”. Gerald has put together one of the most comprehensive books exposing just how dirty the pharmaceutical industry truly is.
The author of thirteen acclaimed books, including the New York Times nonfiction bestsellers Case Closed, Why America Slept, and God’s Bankers. Posner was a finalist for the Pulitzer in History. "A merciless pit bull of an investigator,” concluded the Chicago Tribune. The New York Times said his latest book (2020), PHARMA, was “a withering and encyclopedic indictment of a drug industry that often seems to prioritize profits over patients…[it] reads like a pharmaceutical version of cops and robbers."
Posner was one of the youngest attorneys (23) ever hired by Cravath, Swaine & Moore. A Political Science major, he was a Phi Beta Kappa and Summa Cum Laude graduate of the University of California at Berkeley, where he was also a national debating champion. At Hastings Law School, he was an Honors Graduate and was the Law Review’s Associate Executive Editor. He was a litigation associate at the Wall Street law firm of Cravath, Swaine & Moore before leaving in 1981 to co-found Posner & Ferrara, a New York public interest law firm. Several years of a pro bono legal representation on behalf of surviving twins of Nazi experiments at the Auschwitz death camp led him to coauthor his first book in 1986, MENGELE: The Complete Story, bestselling and critically acclaimed biography of the infamous Nazi “Angel of Death,” Dr. Josef Mengele. Read a profile on Gerald on how the Mengele book led to him to leave the law. Publishers Weekly explains how he changed from being a Wall Street lawyer to a bestselling nonfiction author. In the past, he was a regular panelist on HistoryCENTER, the History Channel’s Sunday current events program. He has been a freelance writer for many news magazines, and a regular contributor to NBC, the History Channel, CNN, FOX News, CBS, and MSNBC. He is represented by BrightSight Group for lectures about investigative journalism and his books. His wife, the author Trisha Posner, works with him on all projects.
Big Pharma Topics Discussed:
* Why is the Investigative Reporter dying as a career today* What was it that got Gerald interested in investigating the pharmaceutical industry* What does the term “off labeling” mean* How do “kickbacks” work in the pharmaceutical industry* How did the ...